When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilisation,” I am shown that people of my colour made it what it is. McIntosh, K. (2016). How can we reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline? [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from: http://www.pbis.org/Common/Cms/files/pbisresources /IB intro 45 min 2016-2-9h.pptx The first discussion should be about privilege, in general, in America and the reasons some groups have privilege and others do not. This lays a foundation before personalizing the discussion and may help participants be less defensive.

The word privilege often comes up when people talk about racial issues. A privilege is a luxury some members of society have or get to enjoy. The same privileges may not be available to minority groups due to many reasons. If someone mentions an oppressive pattern that relates to privilege (e.g., “Men always dominate conversations and talk over women because they are taught that their voices are more valuable.”), consider how you will not participate in this pattern. For example, you might say less or be aware of how often you are speaking and begin to listen more while others are speaking. Because each of us likely has an element of privilege within our make-up (ethnicity, gender, ability level, religion, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity), individuals need not feel guilty for their privilege. Today, McIntosh is 85 and is founder of The Seed Project, which helps teachers and community members to create a “gender-fair, multiculturally equitable, socioeconomically aware, and globally informed" curricula. For example, a person from North Africa, from the Indian sub-continent or from Oceania could be considered ‘white’ – in spite of a dark complexion – in many contexts.

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Privilege isn’t limited to skin colour. There are many other attributes that can confer privilege like class, gender and sexuality. But where does this privilege come from? Unlike your accomplishments and achievements which can give you an advantage, privilege is not really something personal. Instead, it’s the way that the wider society has developed through time to create advantage for certain groups of people – usually those in power and their allies and friends. Some of these structures have existed for so long that we don’t even notice them. That’s the case for sexuality, for example. Unless we are queer, we probably don’t realise how strong the idea that heterosexuality is ‘normal’ is and how most of the messages and structures of society are aimed at heterosexual people. Same-sex marriage and other changes in the law have raised our awareness in recent times, of course.

I suffer discrimination because some people think I am too white to be seen as blak; that I should not identify as Aboriginal, that I should not have the right. Some people would try to remove my access to Aboriginal culture, would try to say I am too white, too mixed-race, to be allowed access to my Country and culture, family and land. Those same people think I should not access Aboriginal resources, affirmative action, land rights. I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of colour who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion. A still from Kony2012, launched by the non-profit group Invisible Children which demanded the removal of Ugandan guerrilla leader Joseph Rao Kony. Photograph: invisiblechildreninc Get Out of the Testing Rut: Expanding Your School Psychology Role by Understanding Your District's Needs The term white privilege originated in the US in the 1980s, referring to both the obvious and the hidden advantages afforded to white people by systemic forms of racial injustice. Unlike terms such as “racial injustice” and “systemic racial bias”, the idea of privilege centres the discussion around individuals. I can criticise our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behaviour without being seen as a cultural outsider.

Keep in mind that these examples can be the very reason why white privilege is real and not a myth. White privilege is so ingrained that anything a person of color does for their culture and rights is considered one-sided and flaunting their privileges.

She said that the sensitivity around the essay stemmed from the anger that writers in the Caribbean felt at not having the same platform as white authors writing about their culture. All of this is about if people get to write because they’re white... What is considered a valid Commonwealth story? Sharmaine Lovegrove While scholars in some other countries have recently used the term to elucidate systemic patterns of inequality in their own societies, in other countries scholars have been more dubious about the concept. Take a look at the content for some of those articles — you’ll see some of what I would consider to be extremist content. Yet these articles and authors are pushed by the editorial team and have tons of social support to continue pushing their narrative.